Opened in 1987, Wholesome Roc Gallery and Cafe was an alternative art space that hosted exhibitions and events with and focused on queer Black artists in Chicago. In this video, it appears to be opening night for an art show titled "The Flesh & Spirit Show". Ken Hartmann and his video camera document the buzz happening in this space on opening night. A few artists showing their work are interviewed and share their creative process along with their work.
00:01Copy video clip URL Video opens with footage of art on the Wholesome Roc’s gallery walls. Title card: “Wholesome Roc, The Flesh and Spirit Show”. The camera continues to pan to art on the walls, zooming in to capture details and we hear the sounds of people talking in the background.
03:57Copy video clip URL Lisa Kucharski, who has artwork on display, discusses the concepts in her work with the cameraman, Ken Hartmann, as he zooms in on the details of each piece. Most of the works are paintings and multi-media drawings.
11:37Copy video clip URL Kucharski dives into her artistic process, saying “I’ll carry a painting in my mind for about a month”.
17:17Copy video clip URL Kucharski talks about a specific painting that includes a poem that she’s displayed in libraries around Chicago.
19:25Copy video clip URL Cut to a different room in the Wholesome Roc gallery, the camera pans to show people interacting throughout the space.
20:29Copy video clip URL A man shows the details of his jacket, which he designed himself. He goes in-depth on the process of making jackets, saying, “I prime the jacket with a polymer coat and then apply acrylic paints by means of airbrush.” He talks about how he started making art by painting graffiti on trains.
36:11Copy video clip URL The graffiti-style jacket designer shows another jacket he painted on his friend, Lulu. The camera zooms in on the details of the painted blue jean jacket.
42:17Copy video clip URL Hartmann and the artist share their stories of doing graffiti art with each other.
54:42Copy video clip URL Hartmann catches himself in the mirror and zooms in on his reflection
55:05Copy video clip URL Shane, the next artist interviewed by Hartmann appears onscreen and discusses his art.
1:08:40Copy video clip URL Hartmann approaches two people, Tom and Sophie, and asks if they mind being on camera, he proceeds to talk with them. A third person, Debbie, joins and shows a project she’s promoting called Think Ink.
1:21:47Copy video clip URL Debbie offers to interview Hartmann, to which he agrees and passes off the camera to her. Debbie asks why Hartman is at Wholesome Roc filming interviews. Hartmann then shows Debbie how to use the camera and they walk around the space together filming people and zooming in and out on their subjects. Casual conversations take place with people throughout the gallery.
1:24:05Copy video clip URL Debbie hands the camera back to Hartmann who continues filming the crowd mingling throughout the gallery and art on the walls.
1:30:27Copy video clip URL Greg, an artist in the show, introduces himself and talks a bit about his work and creative process.
1:51:10Copy video clip URL Hartmann speaks with another artist about how they started making art. At this point many people are leaving the gallery.
1:56:33Copy video clip URL Hartmann continues walking around the now near empty gallery taking close up shots of some one the artwork.
1:58:12Copy video clip URL Hartmann speaks with a photographer about film and video.
2:02:26Copy video clip URL A woman in the gallery and Hartmann admire a figure drawing with close up shots of the drawing.
2:03:06Copy video clip URL Video cuts out.
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